


Smile

by rlyehtaxidermist



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: Afterlife, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Spoilers for AXZ12
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 15:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12192600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rlyehtaxidermist/pseuds/rlyehtaxidermist
Summary: Saint-Germain meets her end.





	Smile

“Mother...”

Saint-Germain took a long, quiet breath, and leaned back into the light; as she closed her eyes, she could see Cagliostro and Prelati fading away in front of her.

It wasn’t a bad way to go.

She closed her eyes, and the noise of the world around her faded into silence. Soon enough, she couldn’t even hear her own heartbeat. She sighed; how long had it been since she’d felt at peace?

Did she even deserve to, after everything she’d done?

She wondered how long she’d still be able to think. They’d had seconds left, she was sure of it. Maybe it was true, what people said about time slowing down before you died.

Was her life going to play before her eyes? She cringed.

Maybe they were _also_ right about suffering for your crimes. She’d had more than her many, many lifetimes worth of _those_.

_And it was all for nothing._

Whatever was going to happen to her, she deserved every moment of it. She nodded her head once and steeled her resolve; there was nothing left to do but await the end. Whatever punishments it might bring were long overdue. She awaited the inevitable.

“Boop.”

A finger pushed against her nose. _What?!_ She leapt backwards, flailing wildly with limbs she didn’t think she still had, and collapsed in a heap onto the… floor?

Why was there a floor?

She stared around her. She was in… it wasn’t right to call it a _room_. Or even a _space_. Smears of colour wound through the horizon in every direction her frantic gaze fell on. She opened her mouth, half on reflex, sputtering through her countless half-formed questions.

A snicker from her right caught her attention, just as it gave way to hearty, boisterous laughter. She slowly shimmied around. Looming over her was a tall, broad-shouldered woman with a head of completely outrageous red hair. The woman was tightly clutching her chest, doubled-over with hysterical laughter. She held out an open palm, pulling herself back to her full height, only to be wracked by another round of laughter.

Another woman stepped into view. She was shorter and slighter than her companion, but that wasn’t much of a challenge for anyone. She wore her brown hair just below the shoulder, and a ring of pink flowers running around the back. She tugged on the shirt of the other woman, yanking her back upright. “That was your fault, you know.”

“What? She was just standing there.” The redhead shrugged. “I had to try something.” She pointed. “’s not my fault she decided to do the whole–” she flailed her arms, and started chuckling again.

“I admit, it was…” the brunette poorly disguised a chuckle, “a bit of a shock.” She shook her head. “Please forgive her, she’s very...” She held a finger to her chin. “Enthusiastic.” She offered a hand down to Saint-Germain. “It’s a pleasure to properly meet you. I’m Serena.”

Saint-Germain took Serena’s hand; she’d been doing that a lot, lately. Serena pulled her to her feet. Saint-Germain let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

After a moment of awkward silence, Serena gently elbowed the woman standing next to her. The redhead gave her a beaming, toothy smile. “I’m Kanade, and what she said. Not too many new faces up here.” She shrugged. “Probably a good thing.”

Saint-Germain furrowed her brow. “Where exactly _is_ ‘here’?” She paused, casting her left arm in a wide, circular gesture. “The last thing I remember, I–” She paused. “No, first.” Her voice was clipped, artificially steady from many lifetimes of practice. “There were two others. Wherever this is, if I am here, they must be somewhere.” They _have_ to be. “I owe it to them to–”

A pair of fingers drummed on her shoulder. She whipped around; this time, she kept her balance. Her face shifted into her best stern glare, only for it to melt immediately when she registered who she was looking at.

Cagliostro had pulled her hand back, and was now giving her an exaggerated salute, twisting some of her curly, blue hair between her fingers. She wore the same laughing, cheerful smile that she always did. Behind her, Prelati was giving them all a tired, flat look, clutching her stuffed frog tightly under one elbow.

“You’re… you’re alive?” Saint-Germain forced out, 

Prelati shook her head. “Basically, this is an afterlife. Probably not the only one.” She pointed over to the other two. “From those two, it bears some connection to the Symphogears.” Saint-Germain looked back over; the two women were now clad in two familiar-yet-different outfits.

Saint-Germaine turned to walk away, blinking quickly. “I have no right to be here.”

Before she could even take a step, a lithe, tan arm slipped itself around her shoulders, pulling her back into the group. “Pretty sure someone here disagrees.” Cagliostro said, pulling Saint-Germain into a half-hug. “Me, at least. And if you think God or whoever can overrule that, what’ve we been doing all our lives?”

Prelati nodded. “We said we’d follow you.” She shrugged, putting her free hand on her hip. “Why would being dead change that?”

The redhead- _Kanade_ laughed at that. “Yeah, I know the feeling.” She shook her head, but she was smiling. “Being dead’s not all bad. Sometimes you can even help, where it counts.” Her smile flickered. “I’m glad you guys got your heads on straight at the end there. She’s a good kid; shame I couldn’t get to know her myself.” Serena nodded, a wistful look on her face.

It went without saying who ‘she’ was. Centuries of life, all muddled up by a girl who hadn’t seen two decades. _Where would she be without her?_

Cagliostro nudged her. “Don’t worry about that.” She let go of Saint-Germain and pranced to between Prelati and Kanade. “We’re all together, right?” She winked. “And I bet that girl and her friends are feeding Adam his creepy metal ass right now. So c’mon,” she said, yanking on Prelati’s arm. The two of them closed in on Saint-Germain before she could react, and pulled her into a full hug. “Smile.”

**Author's Note:**

> what's this? me, contributing to this fandom? and it's not a shitpost?
> 
> This was a pretty quick-and-dirty thing written after I watched AXZ12 so there's not much in the way of... editing or anything done here.
> 
> Also I guess this is the first time the Illuminati tags have been used on AO3, which is kind of a surprise.  
> Except for Adam. Adam can stay in the shame cube. (With apologies to the shame cube.)


End file.
